Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-04-03
NEW YORK LETTER
sysriy,or, xuspfRs ISAsD ABOUT
GOTHAM.
A Celebrated Gaze sesial Fnigmas- 3ow
some People sLivs New
pointt-Art.

dcrs in and around New York OF late IS
exciting general attention rs well as no
little alarm. In these dark and UNI
ia,homab!e crimes. doubly hidcous and
r, pulsiye by their mystery, women
seem 20 be peculiarly unfortunate. A
rcspcttable school.teacher Of Brooklyn
IS iound with her skull fractured in
DOORWAY in the New Bow cry, region
which, compared to cliUYch going, God
fearing homes. Is rs the blacklist depths
of Fades 10 the innocent pastures OF
paled:sc. There Is really no clue to
this fearful and unspeakable outrage.
Our civilization j. still down In the
trough OF The sea Of time, and not on
IFS topmost wave. The beautiful girl
with blue eyes and brown hair found
murdered near Railway, at no great
distance from New York, seems blank
enigma for the law to puzzle over and
perhaps never solve.
II is supposed that in New York at
least one life is taken daily. The num-
her Of persons arrested for murder or
manslsUehier is small. probably not ex-
cccding fifty in q year. Few OF those
arrested are punished ut all, and fewer
.,ill are hanged. An enormous increase
in crime in this country has come with
The increase in population. As New
York has grown murder has increased
IN greater ratio than the population.
There is s. certain foreign element here
That values human life about as might
straw. And many, il not most of these
crimes, are covered as with veil of inn
pcnetrable mystery. The most com
mon method of killing is with the
knife Many Of the roughs carry some
thing OF the nature of dagger. If
they strike in the right place life is soon
extinct; the deed IS silent and
either unobserved or seen only by
other criminals, perhaps murderers
themselves. The revolver removes
many. especially in bar'room affairs.
The sluDg-shots and the sandbags are
not 80 much used as they were TWEEN y
years ago. as it has been made State
prison offence TO have one in possession.
Poison is often used. The late DR..
Mosher. Surgeon-Gcneral of this State.
declared that the number of persons
murdered by poison was far greater
than was generally suspected. Poison
ing is generally done by relatives hay-
ing grudge or anxious to inherit
property, but it is also used in the
dives of New York for the purpose
10th of murder and robbery. 1t is
common thing for man slightly in
toxicated 10 be robbed and murdered
in some dark street close TO the water
front, and then it is easy to throw the
body into the black river that could tell
such thrilling story of sorrow and
crime had it any other voice than the
plash Of its salt waves against the
wooden piers. Formerly there were a
number OF places in Water, Houston,
and Bleecker streets where a dragged
class of whiskey was dexterously sub
,tituted for the liquor ordered and the
dIinker was soon rendered insenslble.
Opium in its various forms was used,
laudanum more especially, chlOral, and
other drugs were so many agents OF sci
epce TO assist crime. After man was
pretty well intoxicated it was easy,
moreover, for one Of the lost girls of
the bagnio TO apply handkerchief
satunted with chlorOform 10 the face
of the victim. Men in these unspeaka-
bic resorts have detected poison on
slightly tasting the liquor and have i'm
mediately left in safety.
MYSTERIES.
Hut I have referred to the mystery OF
crime in New York. 1t is commonly
supposed that most of the murderers
are arrested and punished either by
death or imprisonment. 1t IS amistake.
The list Of murders which have never
been clearly brought home to the crimi-
nal would be altogether too long to
enumerate here. One of the most cele-
hra,ed was the Berdell murder in Bond
Street in 1855. DR. Berdell was dentist
with large and fashionable practice.
He had = housekeeper, Mrs. Cunning
ham, who was allowed to keep board.
ers. The Doctor was a man OF
propcrtv. One morning when the
,,ryu,t knocked at his door there
WIS no response. The door was forced
mtn and he was found murdered.
When the murder became known to the
household Mrs. Cunningham shrieked /:
O." He was my husband y She declared
that they had been married for several
weeks. She was in middle life, tall and
handsome. The police did not believe
her statement. They found, however,
that She had been married in Herklmer
countv. Of this State, 10 person who
gave The name Of Berdell and who is
believed to have personated him. The
trial revealed nsmeless degree OF
\ moral rottenness in this household IN
4 yolying the two daughters of the house
kceper and two of the boarders'
Her bold and ingenious plot failed.
She and two alleged accOmplices were
tined for murder, but there was no an'
solute proof, and after long and tedi'
ous trial they were acquitted: She
changed her name and removed IRON
one place to another, but finally settled
IN California, where she Is supposed to
be- still living. One of the alleged ac-
/ completes died some years after the
tragedy the other, son OF clergy
man. was acquitted by public opinion,
Tie theory of the prosecution was Una
4 Mrs. Cunningham and an accompic'
vent through the form OF marriage
mder the name of Berdell, and then
i having this on the records, murdered
the Doctor TO get possession OF his pro
4 lctv. Another mysterious case was ln'
Rogers murder about fifteen years ago
He was shovelling snow from his door
stem at 7 O'Clock in the morning. =
man stepped up and killed him. "a
has meyer been arrested. The murde
of Nathan. the banker, in Fourteent'
street has never been cleared OF tn
loud of mystery overhanging 1t. IN
sons and man-seryant were suspected
hut there wac no proof against them
mo tragedy occurred in the banker
snIendid brownstone mansion. III wa
eyer after Stunned as uncanny Tn
mystery OF crime, the stain oil oiooo
WAS there. a darker gloom than that 2
The House OF the Seven Gables.
never could be rented and had TO b
torn down.
LIVING on AIR.
There are hundreds OF men abor
New York who are known not 70 nav
n dollar. but apparently live at the raj
Of s., 600 per year. At the Hotfma
House know at least five OF such mel
and there is not person who kno"
.~..n1Gr how fnQ